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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 737 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 737

Condemning and censuring John A. Koskinen, the Commissioner of Internal 
                                Revenue.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 18, 2016

Mr. Chaffetz submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
 the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on 
Oversight and Government Reform and Ways and Means, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
Condemning and censuring John A. Koskinen, the Commissioner of Internal 
                                Revenue.

Whereas the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a subpoena to 
        John A. Koskinen, Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service, on February 
        14, 2014, which compelled him to produce, among other things, ``all 
        communications sent or received by Lois Lerner, from January 1, 2009, to 
        August 2, 2013.'';
Whereas, on March 4, 2014, Internal Revenue Service employees in Martinsburg, 
        West Virginia, magnetically erased 422 backup tapes, destroying as many 
        as 24,000 of Lois Lerner's emails responsive to the subpoena;
Whereas Commissioner Koskinen violated a congressional subpoena by failing to 
        locate and preserve relevant records and by losing key pieces of 
        evidence that were in the agency's possession, and destroyed, on his 
        watch;
Whereas Commissioner Koskinen betrayed the trust and confidence of the American 
        people as an Officer of the United States;
Whereas Commissioner Koskinen failed to live up to the promise he made to the 
        Senate Committee on Finance during his confirmation hearing to: ``Be 
        transparent about any problems we run into; and the public and certainly 
        this committee will know about those problems as soon as we do.'';
Whereas, as early as February 2014, and no later than April 2014, Commissioner 
        Koskinen was aware that a substantial portion of Lois Lerner's emails 
        were missing and could not be produced to Congress, but did not notify 
        Congress of any problem until June 13, 2014, when he included the 
        information on the fifth page of the third enclosure of a letter to the 
        Senate Committee on Finance;
Whereas Commissioner Koskinen offered under oath a series of false and 
        misleading statements utterly lacking in honesty and integrity;
Whereas, on March 26, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen was asked during a hearing 
        before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, ``Sir, are you 
        or are you not going to provide this committee all of Lois Lerner's 
        emails?'' and he falsely answered, ``Yes, we will do that.'';
Whereas, on June 20, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen testified falsely that ``since 
        the start of this investigation, every email has been preserved. Nothing 
        has been lost. Nothing has been destroyed.'';
Whereas, on June 20, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen testified falsely that the 
        Internal Revenue Service had ``confirmed that backup tapes from 2011 no 
        longer existed because they have been recycled, pursuant to the Internal 
        Revenue Service normal policy'' and that ``confirmed means that somebody 
        went back and looked and made sure that in fact any backup tapes that 
        had existed had been recycled.'';
Whereas, on June 20, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen testified that the Internal 
        Revenue Service had ``gone to great lengths'' to retrieve all of Lois 
        Lerner's emails, but in fact failed to search disaster backup tapes, 
        Lois Lerner's Blackberry, the email server, backup tapes for the email 
        server, and Lois Lerner's temporary replacement laptop, which the 
        Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration subsequently found to 
        contain more than 1,000 of Lerner's emails;
Whereas Commissioner Koskinen's false statements delayed and otherwise 
        interfered with congressional investigations into the Internal Revenue 
        Service targeting of Americans based on their political affiliation; and
Whereas the aforementioned conduct of Commissioner Koskinen caused the House of 
        Representatives to lose confidence in his ability to administer and 
        supervise the execution and application of the internal revenue laws: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the House of Representatives does hereby censure and 
        condemn John A. Koskinen for a pattern of conduct while 
        Commissioner of Internal Revenue that is incompatible with his 
        duties and inconsistent with the trust and confidence placed in 
        him as an officer of the United States; and
            (2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
        John A. Koskinen, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, should--
                    (A) immediately resign from office, and if he does 
                not so resign, the President should remove him from 
                office; and
                    (B) be required to forfeit all rights to any 
                annuity for which he is eligible under chapter 83 or 
                chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code.
                                 <all>
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